PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF FOR FORMER BALBOA GRIDIRON STARNearly thirteen years ago McLeod Bethel-Thompson was completing a record breaking career leading his Balboa Buccaneer football squad to the SF Section Turkey Day title game, ultimately falling to Lincoln 21-20. He continued on to compete in college, first with UCLA and then finishing up and graduating from Sacramento State. Though not drafted, Mac felt he had the skills to make it at the professional level. After eight years filling the practice squad and/or third string back up spot on a number of NFL teams (including the 49ers, Vikings, Dolphins, Patriots, and Eagles) and never playing a down in a league game, he moved north of the boarder in 2017 signing with Toronto of the CFL. This past August 2nd, after all the hard work and persistence, he FINALLY was given the opportunity to show his stuff, making his first start as a pro--and was it a memorable one! Mac had a rough first half, but worked out the kinks during the break and proceeded to bring the Argonauts back from a double digit deficit, ultimately stunning the favored Ottawa Redblacks with a game ending touchdown drive. Check these links for a recap of the game, highlights of the action, and an interview with the hero! Congrats to our former SF Section Player of the Year, and let's hope Big Mac has many more games and wins in his future!

​FORMER GALILEO MULTI-SPORT ATHLETE SHOWING SUCCESS ON THE DIAMONDGalileo HS alum Kyle Nelson is showing prospects of a bright future in baseball. The former multi-sport star with the Lions was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2017 after a stellar college career at UCSB and is currently competing for the Lake County Captains in the Class A Midwest League. Check this link for an update on Kyle's current stats and accomplishments.

FORMER LINCOLN TRACK STAR CONTINUING TOP MARKS AT THE NEXT LEVELCheck out this link for a nice article on Lincoln HS grad Obiageri (Pamela) Amaechi on her athletic success in the Ivy League at Princeton. Pam recently qualified for the Junior World Championships in the Discus with a throw of 186'9" as a freshman at Princeton, setting an Ivy League record!

EX-POLY FOOTBALL STAR REMEMBERED BY 49ERSCheck out this link to a nice article about former Polytechnic HS grade and football star Alyn Beals. Beals went on to play in college at Santa Clara and then with the San Francisco 49ers.

FORMER WILSON HIGH GRAD'S BRIEF STINT IN THE NFLMike Kirtman, Wilson HS class of 1974, had a stellar career as a Track and Field athlete in the CIF SF Section and still holds the 110 high hurdles record at 14.24 seconds. But not many folks remember that he was also was an outstanding football player who went on to compete at San Jose State. And even though he focused more on Track in college, the NFL scouts took notice of his gridiron talents. In 1980, Mike had a brief stint with the Buffalo Bills before moving on to a short career in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Check out this link for a nice article on his attempt to crack the Bills roster. Mike continues to be a big supporter of athletics in the SF Section which includes presenting the annual Kirtman Family man and woman of the meet award at our All-City Track Finals each year.

EX-SF SECTION HIGH SCHOOL STAR JOHNNY MATHIS WAS NOT JUST A FINE SINGERJohnny Mathis may be well known for his long and stellar singing career, but few may know that he was also an outstanding track and field athlete at Washington High School. Check out this link for a nice article on his athletic accomplishments.

FORMER SF SECTION STARS MAKE CIF ALL-CENTURY TEAMThe CIF 100th Anniversary All-Century Teams have been announced. The San Francisco Section placed one member Ollie Matson (Washington) on the fall team, two members Hank Luisetti (Galileo) and Tom Meschery (Lowell) on the winter team, and three members Joe Dimaggio (Galileo), Ken Venturi (Lincoln), and Johnny Miller (Lincoln) on the spring team. Matson was a dominant high school running back who went on to continued success in college and in the NFL. He led the nation in rushing in 1951 at the University of San Francisco and then went on to a 15 year NFL career, making All Pro six times, being named to the NFL 1950s All-Decade team, and ultimately being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972. It should be noted that while Matson was also a great track athlete, winning multiple San Francisco Section/AAA gold medals as well as two medals at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Both Luisetti and Meschery also went on to fine careers in college and the NBA. Dimaggio played 15 years in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees, and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His 56 game hitting streak still has yet to be broken. Both Venturi and Miller competed for many years on the PGA Golf tour, amassing 29 Tour wins and 3 major championships between them. Both are also members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all our former SF Section athletes on this great honor!

LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS HISTORY WEBSITEBay Area Sports Stars (BASS), an organization headed by local high school sports historian Chris Rogers, catalogs historical information on high school sports athletes from around the San Francisco Bay Area. Deceased BASS co-founder, John Spalding, provided the San Francisco Section and AAA with a majority of the alumni athlete details listed below. Check out this link to the BASS website for even more history of our local high school sports heroes!

Yearbooks:The AAA/CIF SF Section is building a collection of McAteer Yearbooks and currently has copies from 1975-77, 1979-81, 1984-93, 1995, and 1997-2002 in an Adobe electronic format. We also have some hard copies from 2002. We are still on the hunt for years 1978-79, 1982-83, 1994, and 1996. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of a year we have or can provide us with a missing year, please contact our office at 415-920-5185 and help in keeping the Jaguar history alive!